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WrestleMania XXV
WrestleMania XXV (also marketed as The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania) was the twenty-fifth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on April 5, 2009, at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The event featured talent from all three WWE brands: Raw, SmackDown, and ECW. It was the second WrestleMania to be held in Houston, with the first being WrestleMania X-Seven at the Reliant Astrodome, which was held in 2001. Eight matches were held on the event's card, which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main bout. The first of these matches saw The Undertaker defeat Shawn Michaels. The second was a Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship, which saw John Cena defeat the champion, Edge, and the third participant in the match, The Big Show, to win the championship. The final match of the night was a singles match for the WWE Championship that featured the champion, Triple H, defeating Randy Orton to retain the title. Featured matches on the undercard included Jeff Hardy versus Matt Hardy in an Extreme Rules match, Chris Jericho versus the team of Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat and Jimmy Snuka, also the Intercontinental Championship match in which Rey Mysterio defeated the champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield for 21 seconds, then he quits leading Layfield's departure from the WWE and a period of retirement from active wrestling and the annual Money in the Bank ladder match. Tickets for the event commenced sale to the public on November 8, 2008. For the third consecutive year, WrestleMania broke the record for the highest-grossing pay-per-view in WWE history, grossing US$6.9 million in ticket sales, which included fans from all 50 U.S. states, 24 countries, and seven Canadian provinces. WrestleMania XXV generated approximately 960,000 pay-per-view buys, grossing $21.0 million in revenue. The event pumped an estimated $49.8 million into the local economy and generated $5.7 million in local tax revenue, equating to 600 full-time jobs for the area. With an attendance of 72,744, it is the 8th largest attendance in WrestleMania history. Production Background As the second WrestleMania to be held in Houston and the state of Texas after WrestleMania X-Seven at the Astrodome, WWE mainly promoted WrestleMania XXV under the tagline "Everything Is Bigger in Texas, Especially WrestleMania" since its announcement at WrestleMania XXIV in March 2008. WWE later began using "The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania" name in late-2008 to primarily promote the event. Tickets for WrestleMania XXV were originally scheduled to go on sale September 20, 2008, but had to be postponed out of concern for the residents near the Gulf of Mexico due to Hurricane Ike and the disaster area declaration by Texas Governor Rick Perry. Following another postponement due to the effect of Ike on the state of Texas, WWE announced that ticket sales would be postponed until November 8, 2008. The official theme songs for the event were AC/DC's "War Machine" and their live version of "Shoot to Thrill", as well as "So Hott" by Kid Rock. Other songs used at the event include "Crash" by Decyfer Down and "Touched" by VAST. Marketing According to WWE's executive vice president, Michelle Wilson, WrestleMania XXV featured the most extensive promotional campaign in WrestleMania history. Promotion for the event included a merchandise deal with Kmart enabling discounts on the pay-per-view's retail price, as well as deals with DirecTV and Dish Network to promote through interactive television. The campaign also saw WWE mail to previous purchasers of WrestleMania, professional boxing and mixed martial arts pay-per-views to order their show. WWE spent US$10 million for cross-channel spots on television networks such as ESPN, MTV and the USA Network. The Army National Guard were the primary sponsor for the event, using the event to help enhance their recruitment. To commemorate the event, THQ and Yuke's produced a video game, WWE Legends of WrestleMania, that was released a few weeks prior to the event and featured past competitors from the company. As with previous WrestleMania events, a series of events were held in the week preceding WrestleMania XXV. For the second consecutive year, WrestleManiArt, an art exhibition and auction featuring work by WWE wrestlers and local artists, was held at the Julia Ideson Building on April 1, with the proceeds going to Houston Public Library Foundation. WrestleMania's annual fan convention, WrestleMania Axxess, was held from April 2 through April 5 at Reliant Center. On April 4, WWE hosted its annual WWE Hall of Fame ceremony at the Toyota Center, where the Class of 2009 were inducted. Storylines WrestleMania featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on Raw, Friday Night SmackDown, and ECW on Sci Fi—World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) primary television programs. Wrestlers were portrayed as either a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches. The event featured wrestlers from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands—a storyline division in which WWE's employees are assigned to a television program of the same name. John "Bradshaw" Layfield defeated CM Punk on March 9th, 2009 on an episode of Raw to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship. A week later, JBL's old rival, Rey Mysterio, issued a challenge to face JBL for his Intercontinental title at Wrestlemania 25. With the match accepted by JBL, this would be the first time since WrestleMania 18 that the aforementioned title belt would be defended on a Wrestlemania card. On the March 31st episode of Raw, JBL was pinned by Mysterio in a non-title match. At No Way Out, Shawn Michaels defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a match with the added stipulation that if JBL had won, he would have become the owner of Michaels' name and likeness. On the February 16 episode of Raw, Michaels challenged JBL to a match, with the winner advancing to WrestleMania to challenge The Undertaker to attempt to end his undefeated streak at the event. The next week on Raw, Michaels defeated JBL, but it was later announced that another competitor would stand in his way to prevent him from advancing to the show in the form of Vladimir Kozlov, who also made a challenge to The Undertaker; the two wrestled the next week on Raw with Michaels defeating Kozlov, and earning his match with The Undertaker. The next week on Raw, The Undertaker and Michaels defeated Kozlov and JBL in a tag match. After the match, Michaels attacked The Undertaker. The pair played mind games with each other over the following weeks. The headline of WrestleMania XXV was on the entire show of Raw, with a confrontation over the WWE Championship, rooted at the 2009 Royal Rumble pay-per-view event in January by Randy Orton winning the Royal Rumble match. Per the traditional stipulation of the match, Orton was given the opportunity to choose to wrestle for the WWE, World Heavyweight, or ECW Championship at WrestleMania. Simultaneously, Orton began to assault the McMahon family, the owners of the WWE. During this conflict, Orton punted both Vince and Shane McMahon (father and son, respectively) in the head as well as RKO-ing Stephanie McMahon (Vince's daughter), which enraged the WWE Champion (and Stephanie's husband) Triple H. On the March 2 episode of Raw, Triple H convinced Orton to use his title opportunity in a match for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. The following weeks saw Triple H attack Orton both backstage and at his house. In retaliation, Orton attacked Triple H's wife Stephanie McMahon. As a result, Triple H recruited his brother-in-law and father-in-law, Shane and Vince McMahon respectively. After the main event of the March 2 episode of Raw, SmackDown general manager Vickie Guerrero announced that her husband, Edge, would defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Big Show at WrestleMania. A contract to be signed to make the match official was intended to be held on the next episode of SmackDown; however, John Cena, from whom Edge won the World Heavyweight Championship at the previous month's pay per view, No Way Out (in the Elimination Chamber match), interfered with the signing before whispering a message in Vickie's ear prompting the signing to be canceled. The next week on Raw, Vickie announced to the surprise of Edge and The Big Show that Cena would be in the match making it a Triple Threat match. It was soon revealed that the match would involve the new challenger based on Cena extorting Guerrero with footage of the general manager having adulterous relations with The Big Show. The next week on Raw, Edge, Vickie and her lover Big Show were set to confront John Cena. Due to Cena revealing the affair between Vickie and Big Show, much to the chagrin of all three. As a result, Guerrero arranged a match pitting Edge against Cena with herself serving as a special guest referee. With all that misdirected hostility focused on Cena, who could not touch Vickie lest he sacrifice his World Title Match at WrestleMania, a lopsided confrontation seemed inevitable. As Edge and Cena battled, Big Show walked down the ramp toward the ring. When he arrived, Edge joined him in tying Cena up within the ring ropes. Fittingly, each drove their anger in his direction: Edge speared him, Vickie slapped him and Big Show drove his giant fist into Cena's ribs several times before clocking him in the jaw. Edge then speared Big Show, and sent a message that he would retain his title at WrestleMania. The fifth annual Money in the Bank ladder match was announced for WrestleMania XXV on the February 23 episode of Raw. The briefcase holds a symbolic contract which the holder would be able to exchange for a WWE, World Heavyweight, or ECW Championship match at any time or location of his choosing up until one year. To participate in the match, a wrestler had to first qualify for it by winning a match; this process began on the February 23 episode of Raw, in which CM Punk qualified by defeating The Miz and John Morrison in a Triple Threat match. The next week of Raw, Kane defeated Rey Mysterio and Mike Knox in another Triple Threat match. The next night on ECW, Mark Henry qualified for the match by defeating Santino Marella. Both Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and Shelton Benjamin qualified for the match on the March 6 episode of SmackDown ''by defeating Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy in respective singles matches. On the March 9 episode of ''Raw, Kofi Kingston qualified by defeating Chris Jericho. Christian qualified the next night on ECW by winning a battle royal when he last eliminated Chavo Guerrero. Finlay was the final wrestler to qualify for the match when he defeated The Brian Kendrick on the March 13 episode of SmackDown. Over the following weeks, the participants competed in eight-man tag team matches and an eight-man battle royal. The buildup to WrestleMania XXV also included a rivalry between brothers Matt and Jeff Hardy. During Jeff's match against Edge at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship, Matt came down to the ring, appearing to help his brother. Instead, Matt turned on Jeff by hitting him with a steel chair, costing Jeff the match and his WWE title. After losing his Money in the Bank qualifying match to MVP on the March 6 episode of SmackDown, Matt interfered in Jeff's qualifying match later that night by punching Jeff's opponent, Shelton Benjamin, disqualifying Jeff from the match. A week later, Matt provoked Jeff even further by referring to Jeff's recent accidents, including Jeff's incident at the night of Survivor Series where he was found unconscious in a hotel stairwell (which caused him to be removed of the WWE title match and being replaced by Edge at that event), the recent account of someone driving Jeff off the road, and the misfiring of the pyrotechnics in his entrance. Matt then talked about the fire to Jeff's house a year prior, killing his dog, Jack. This ultimately led to Jeff retaliating against his brother after weeks of passive resistance. Later that night, it was announced that Matt and Jeff would fight each other at WrestleMania with a subsequent announcement a week later declaring the match to be held under Extreme Rules. On the January 23 episode of SmackDown, WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns (Primo and Carlito) defeated World Tag Team Champions, John Morrison and The Miz in a tag team match. After their loss, Miz and Morrison proceeded to harass their defeaters on their weekly Internet show, the Dirt Sheet, as well as profess the brothers' impotence towards their associates, The Bella Twins. The two teams wrestled again on the February 13 episode of SmackDown, with the winning team earning a date with the Bellas. Miz and Morrison won the rematch and the date. The two teams continued their feud in the coming weeks, and while the initial focus of the feud was the competition for the Bella Twins, the feud took on a dual purpose as each team successfully defended their respective titles in subsequent matches with both teams retaining their respective belts; it was announced on the March 17 episode of ECW that the WWE and World Tag Team titles would be unified at WrestleMania into what would be called the "Unified WWE Tag Team Championship". At the 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards, actor Mickey Rourke, who gained critical acclaim at the time for his role in the film The Wrestler, had announced he would be competing at WrestleMania, specifically targeting Chris Jericho. The announcement led to a storyline confrontation between the two on Larry King Live, which showed signs of second thoughts from Rourke. On January 28, it was announced Rourke's spokesperson that the actor would not compete at the event, but would still be in attendance. Jericho's narrative subsequently evolved towards one of the themes from The Wrestler, which was the respect for older wrestlers after their careers start to decline, of which Jericho disapproved. On the February 9 episode of Raw, Ric Flair appeared to protest Jericho's tirades, professing that the wrestlers should be respected, as they had paved the way for the future generations to make a living, leading to a heated exchange between the two. Over the coming weeks, Jericho was confronted by a number of legends including Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat, and Jimmy Snuka on an episode of Piper's Pit hosted by Jericho himself. Each confrontation resulted in Jericho viciously attacking each respective wrestler. The following week, Jericho challenged Flair to a match. Although Flair declined (honoring his retirement from active competition), he offered to be in the corner of Piper, Steamboat, and Snuka for their challenge against Jericho in a handicap match. Jericho accepted the challenge, but subsequently attacked and bloodied Flair. Aftermath The rivalry between Triple H and Randy Orton continued after WrestleMania when both men would meet in a six-man tag team match at Backlash on the following episode of Raw. The match would pit Triple H, Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon against The Legacy (Orton with his protégés, Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes). Vince's part in the match was later replaced by a returning Batista. At Backlash Randy Orton and The Legacy defeated Triple H, Shane, and Batista for the WWE Championship. Triple H was put out of action after being punted by Orton after the events of the pay-per-view, while Shane was attacked by Legacy and was taken out on a stretcher. Two months later, Batista later suffered the same fate and was taken out of the building by security, while Triple H made his return and continued his feud with Randy Orton. They would later battle in a Last Man Standing Match on Raw for the WWE Championship which went to a no contest, then at The Bash, Randy Orton defeated Triple H in a Three Stages of Hell match, and would later end their feud in a Triple Threat Match at Night of Champions, with Randy Orton retaining his title against both Triple H and John Cena. Orton would then begin a feud with Cena while Triple H would go out to re-unite DX. On the same episode of Raw, it was announced that Vickie Guerrero would vacate her role as SmackDown general manager to become the new permanent Raw general manager. As her first act, Guerrero announced that John Cena would defend his World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash against Edge in a Last Man Standing match. The animosity between Matt and Jeff Hardy continued on the episode of SmackDown following WrestleMania, leading to continued assaults between the two; newly appointed SmackDown general manager, Theodore Long would announce one last match between the two at Backlash, an "I Quit" match. CM Punk would be drafted to SmackDown brand, which would see him try on multiple occasions to invoke his contractually-guaranteed title match from winning the Money in the Bank ladder match; Punk would be able to get his match at Extreme Rules in June by defeating Jeff Hardy to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Prior to CM Punk defeating Jeff Hardy, Hardy was involved in a World Heavyweight Championship ladder match with Edge. Hardy had managed to trap Edge between the ladder, climb it, and retrieve the hanging belt. It was at this point that CM Punk cashed in his "Money in the Bank" briefcase. As the briefcase guaranteed a title shot, CM Punk capitalized from an exhausted Jeff Hardy. CM Punk had hit the "GTS" (Go to Sleep) yet remarkably Hardy kicked out. CM Punk then hit the second to win the World Heavyweight Championship. After the events of WrestleMania, both Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker took a four month hiatus from the WWE. Shawn came back to reform D-Generation X with Triple H so that they came face to face with The Legacy at SummerSlam. The Undertaker also returned at SummerSlam and attacked the then-World Heavyweight Champion, CM Punk. At the Slammy Awards, the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels won the Best Match of the Year, with Shawn expressing that he was glad that he had created history at WrestleMania, but just when he was about to leave, he challenged the Undertaker to a rematch at the next WrestleMania. The Undertaker later denied the challenge, saying he had nothing more to prove to Michaels, and told Michaels that he would have to earn the spot. Michaels later entered the Royal Rumble (2010), but would be eliminated by Batista. He later tried to enter the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship, but he was defeated by Randy Orton to earn the spot. Then at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Shawn cost The Undertaker his World Heavyweight Championship. The next night on Raw, the Undertaker accepted the rematch, but only on the condition that Michaels would retire from WWE if he lost. At WrestleMania XXVI The Undertaker defeated Shawn Michaels in a Streak vs Career Match, thus ending Michaels' career. The next night on Raw, Shawn said farewell to WWE, with his best friend and DX member Triple H right next to him as they spent their last time, together before Shawn finally left the building. Results * Lumberjacks included The Brian Kendrick, Charlie Haas, Curt Hawkins, Dolph Ziggler, Evan Bourne, Ezekiel Jackson, Hurricane Helms, Goldust, The Great Khali, Jack Swagger, Jamie Noble, Jimmy Wang Yang, JTG, Mike Knox, Paul Burchill, R-Truth, Shad Gaspard, Tommy Dreamer, Vladimir Kozlov, William Regal and Zack Ryder. * Also in the match were Alicia Fox, Brie Bella, Eve Torres, Gail Kim, Jackie Gayda, Jillian Hall, Joy Giovanni, Katie Lea Burchill, Kelly Kelly, Layla, Maria, Maryse, Melina, Michelle McCool, Mickie James, Molly Holly, Natalya, Nikki Bella, Rosa Mendes, Sunny, Tiffany, Torrie Wilson and Victoria. Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * WrestleMania Category:WrestleMania Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2009 Pay-Per-View Events